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 Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Chapter 5
Karma-yoga--Action in Krsna Consciousness
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Bhagavad Gita As Text 1
·
It Is
arjuna uvaca
Foreword
sannyasam karmanam krsna
Preface
punar yogam ca samsasi
Introduction
yac chreya etayor ekam
Parampara
tan me bruhi su-niscitam
Chapter 1
Chapter 2 Synonyms
Chapter 3
Chapter 4 arjunah uvaca--Arjuna said; sannyasam--renunciation; karmanam--of
Chapter 5 all activities; krsna--O Krsna; punah--again; yogam--devotional service;
Chapter 6 ca--also; samsasi--You are praising; yat--which; sreyah--is more
Chapter 7 beneficial; etayoh--of these two; ekam--one; tat--that; me--unto me;
Chapter 8 bruhi--please tell; su-niscitam--definitely.
Chapter 9 Translation
Chapter 10 Arjuna said: O Krsna, first of all You ask me to renounce work,
Chapter 11 and then again You recommend work with devotion. Now will
Chapter 12 You kindly tell me definitely which of the two is more beneficial?
Chapter 13 Purport
Chapter 14
Chapter 15 In this Fifth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, the Lord says that work in
Chapter 16 devotional service is better than dry mental speculation. Devotional
Chapter 17 service is easier than the latter because, being transcendental in nature,
Chapter 18 it frees one from reaction. In the Second Chapter, preliminary
· Home knowledge of the soul and its entanglement in the material body were
explained. How to get out of this material encagement by buddhi-yoga,
or devotional service, was also explained therein. In the Third Chapter,
it was explained that a person who is situated on the platform of
knowledge no longer has any duties to perform. And in the Fourth
Chapter the Lord told Arjuna that all kinds of sacrificial work culminate
in knowledge. However, at the end of the Fourth Chapter, the Lord
advised Arjuna to wake up and fight, being situated in perfect
knowledge. Therefore, by simultaneously stressing the importance of
both work in devotion and inaction in knowledge, Krsna has perplexed
Arjuna and confused his determination. Arjuna understands that
renunciation in knowledge involves cessation of all kinds of work
performed as sense activities. But if one performs work in devotional
service, then how is work stopped? In other words, he thinks that
sannyasa, or renunciation in knowledge, should be altogether free from
all kinds of activity, because work and renunciation appear to him to be
incompatible. He appears not to have understood that work in full
knowledge is nonreactive and is therefore the same as inaction. He
inquires, therefore, whether he should cease work altogether or work
with full knowledge.
Text 2
sri-bhagavan uvaca
sannyasah karma-yogas ca
nihsreyasa-karav ubhau
tayos tu karma-sannyasat
karma-yogo visisyate
 Synonyms
sri-bhagavan uvaca--the Personality of Godhead said; sannyasah--
renunciation of work; karma-yogah--work in devotion; ca--also;
nihsreyasa-karau--leading to the path of liberation; ubhau--both;
tayoh--of the two; tu--but; karma-sannyasat--in comparison to the
renunciation of fruitive work; karma-yogah--work in devotion;
visisyate--is better.
Translation
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for Krishna replied:(ISKCON)
Consciousness The renunciation of work
All Rights Reserved
and work in devotion are both good for liberation. But, of the
two, work in devotional service is better than renunciation of
work.
Purport
Fruitive activities (seeking sense gratification) are cause for material
bondage. As long as one is engaged in activities aimed at improving the
standard of bodily comfort, one is sure to transmigrate to different types
of bodies, thereby continuing material bondage perpetually. Srimad-
Bhagavatam (5.5.4-6) confirms this as follows:

nunam pramattah kurute vikarma

yad indriya-pritaya aprnoti
na sadhu manye yata atmano 'yam
asann api klesa-da asa dehah
parabhavas tavad abodha-jato
yavan najijnasata atma-tattvam
yavat kriyas tavad idam mano vai
karmatmakam yena sarira-bandhah
evam manah karma-vasam prayunkte
avidyayatmany upadhi yamane
pritir na yavan mayi vasudeve
na mucyate deha-yogena tavat

"People are mad after sense gratification, and they do not know that
this present body, which is full of miseries, is a result of one's fruitive
activities in the past. Although this body is temporary, it is always giving
one trouble in many ways. Therefore, to act for sense gratification is not
good. One is considered to be a failure in life as long as he makes no
inquiry about his real identity. As long as he does not know his real
identity, he has to work for fruitive results for sense gratification, and as
long as one is engrossed in the consciousness of sense gratification one
has to transmigrate from one body to another. Although the mind may
be engrossed in fruitive activities and influenced by ignorance, one must
develop a love for devotional service to Vasudeva. Only then can one
have the opportunity to get out of the bondage of material existence."

Therefore, jnana (or knowledge that one is not this material body but
spirit soul) is not sufficient for liberation. One has to act in the status of
spirit soul, otherwise there is no escape from material bondage. Action
in Krsna consciousness is not, however, action on the fruitive platform.
Activities performed in full knowledge strengthen one's advancement in
real knowledge. Without Krsna consciousness, mere renunciation of
fruitive activities does not actually purify the heart of a conditioned soul.
As long as the heart is not purified, one has to work on the fruitive
platform. But action in Krsna consciousness automatically helps one
escape the result of fruitive action so that one need not descend to the
material platform. Therefore action in Krsna consciousness is always
superior to renunciation, which always entails a risk of falling.
Renunciation without Krsna consciousness is incomplete, as is confirmed
by Srila Rupa Gosvami in his Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.2.258):

prapancikataya buddhya
hari-sambandhi vastunah